:D

what's new, pussycat?

Things on the AH are slow. I've been preoccupied with IRL work and playing games with the glyph market, while the bottom has dropped out of Jewelcrafting. I'm only cutting gems from my transmutes and whatever I can pick up for dirt cheap (which is not a lot). The slower pace is working for me - profit is lower but it frees up more time to level alts with friends or on my lonesome. When I'm all done for the day on my home server I've been leveling a long-leglected alt on Steamwheedle Cartel, Dimity*. I've brought her from 58 to 61 over the last couple days and am getting into the swing of playing a warrior again, though alas, I have only one-handers. (Insert raunchy joke here.)

I'm enjoying leveling an unfamiliar class without heirlooms. I've even started regularly checking the SC auction house for deals and flips, and am saving up from 150g to get my flying mount. Cold's guides to flipping in the neutral towns are excellent to this end. Ah, to be new again....


* Please feel free to come and say hi! I'm most likely to be on during the weekends on Dim, and I may reply IC - you have been warned! ;)

checking in

Epic leg armors and to an extent mining bags have been selling really well. I'm not sure why I didn't make them before, except I was lazy. I'm still getting rid of my last LW BoEs and dropped the price pretty steeply to encourage buyers.

Inscription has been hit or miss. Vellums are selling well but the Certificates of Ownership are not. :( Runescrolls are still moving slowly but surely.

The JC flooder has disappeared and prices have rebounded higher than they were before. Nom!

Enchanting is a bust though. There is a botting toon on my server doing enchanting scrolls. :/ Literally undercuts every few seconds, so I'm busy opening tickets to get him gone.

gem crasher

The epic gem market has pooped itself the last few days. There is a guy posting tons of cut gems for less than raws (I'm talking 70g Balanced Dreadstones when the raws are 80-90g), even 10-15 of a single cut at a time. Fortunately he is not posting all of the cuts but it still is a bummer. I initially reported him as potentially being hacked, but also sent him a mail. He replied and says he is liquidating an alt's inventory; I would normally buy it out but I'm nervous picking up so many cut gems at this time.

Things have been moving slooooowly in all markets. I still have four Mechano-hogs to sell. :( At this point I'm thinking of liquidating a lot of my stock and starting to finally stockpile for Cataclysm.

(For clarification: I didn't report him out of spite. I genuinely suspected he might be a hacked account/gbank so I considered it a reasonable action to take. Only after I put in the ticket did he respond so I knew he was a real person.)

traveling

This week I sent my wee warlock banker out into a strange similar dimension. To another realm! Last week I traded a Crimson Deathcharger, two Mechano-hogs, and 20,000 gold for a Magic Rooster and a Blazing Hippogryph. But...I already had a hippo! What to do? I ended up transferring my lowbie to another realm to trade for 8 'hogs and just got her back home today. It was a luxury to me because I have very little money to spend on frivolities like server transfers, but it was a good deal - one that will not be repeated in the near future, but a good deal nonetheless. I've already sold two of the 'hogs and am enjoying my chicken very much.

Things have slowed down in the AH the last couple weeks, except for Inscription. One of my glyph competitors dropped out of the market, which is fabulous; I'm hoping he quit until Cataclysm and isn't on vacation. Sales have jumped and I have enough herbs that I crafted a full stack of every single glyph, in preparation for the massive glyph-buying that will happen when Catacylsm drops. Runescrolls are moving slowly when I remember to make them, but it's not terrible. I've sold most of my Darkmoon decks and am making more.

Gems have slowed down but haven't died. This past week people have been dumping loads of raw gems, and I've been snatching them all up. Why? Because the last time this happened I didn't buy enough, fearing a crash, and ended up running out of stock to cut. My server has a score of raiding guilds on Horde and everyone is buying gems. I don't see myself stopping production in the next month, but the volume has gone down. I'm not complaining - lower profits means more people will drop out of the market, which means more profit for yours truly.

A guildy of mine came back from a long hiatus and is selling me lots of Saronite Ore. I've been picking up some cheap stacks off the AH (sub-15g stacks) and started crafting Titansteel again, which moves quickly.

GDKP-wise, last Sunday was the bomb. We downed H-Marrow, H-Lootship, H-Fester, H-Rotface, H-Blood Queen, and N-Sindragosa (in three tries, no less!). I'm very happy to see progress like that, it attracts even better players and of course more gold and more opportunities for my alts. I'm also crafting Shadowmourne for my paladin (I know, but better late than never!). I need 3 more Saronite, then the arduous 1000 scourge kills... :/ But once I get over that I can do the infusions with my guild and start collecting my shards through GDKP.

Epic Gems and Profit

I arrived too late on the Jewelcrafting scene in WotLK to really get into the saronite shuffle, and therefore I haven't really sold a lot of rare-quality gems. The vast majority of my JC profit has been from buying, cutting and selling epic-quality gems.

As of last week, I have all WotLK epic gem patterns. I figured it was about time to go through my BeanCounter data and see which gems I have made the most money from. Obviously this data is exclusive to my server, and may vary on others - but is a decent indicator for a high population server with an active pug scene and lots of raiding guilds. I'm excluding meta gems and prismatic gems because they are not part of my regular crafting.

Keep in mind that the average price is what they are listed at, not necessarily what they sell for. (I'm looking at you, Flashing Cardinal Ruby.)

gem name

total profit

Auctioneer's market price

Numbers are rounded up to the nearest silver.

RED

Bold Cardinal Ruby	50,436.50	135.72
Bright Cardinal Ruby	22,741.26	132.27
Delicate Cardinal Ruby	31,704.97	137.34
Flashing Cardinal Ruby	0	145.93
Fractured Cardinal Ruby	36,214.22	140.81
Precise Cardinal Ruby	10,601.90	141.32
Runed Cardinal Ruby	59,637.17	132.81
Subtle Cardinal Ruby	0	149.82

ORANGE

Accurate Ametrine	3,785.50	126.99
Champion's Ametrine	189.18	125.82
Deadly Ametrine	1,433.33	123.22
Deft Ametrine	2,020.08	123.94
Durable Ametrine	-9.45	161.41
Empowered Ametrine	0	151.96
Etched Ametrine	334.14	128.43
Fierce Ametrine	0	143.13
Glimmering Ametrine	0	141.24
Glinting Ametrine	1,741.02	128.28
Inscribed Ametrine	742.46	118.23
Lucent Ametrine	0	162.28
Luminous Ametrine	7,749.16	130.67
Potent Ametrine	4,849.88	113.15
Pristine Ametrine	1,818.30	130.20
Reckless Ametrine	32,010.08	108.44
Resolute Ametrine	454.72	146.0
Resplendent Ametrine	0	185.23
Stalwart Ametrine	0	121.55
Stark Ametrine	3,940.77	116.28
Veiled Ametrine	5,957.02	115.05
Wicked Ametrine	600.29	124.71

YELLOW

Brilliant King's Amber	10,370.98	137.14
Mystic King's Amber	0	157.65
Quick King's Amber	18,258.56	133.27
Rigid King's Amber	13,535.82	142.54
Smooth King's Amber	9,057.43	136.79
Thick King's Amber	8,380.20	150.39

GREEN

Dazzling Eye of Zul	2,223.77	129.04
Enduring Eye of Zul	3,480.81	117.21
Energized Eye of Zul	5,487.16	119.83
Forceful Eye of Zul	2,092.54	114.40
Intricate Eye of Zul	3,257.39	127.03
Jagged Eye of Zul	360.91	127.15
Lambent Eye of Zul	0	200.60
Misty Eye of Zul	99.88	185.54
Opaque Eye of Zul	-5.40	223.0
Radiant Eye of Zul	0	126.68
Seer's Eye of Zul	494.38	106.20
Shattered Eye of Zul	113.60	149.62
Shining Eye of Zul	610.75	224.0
Steady Eye of Zul	442.18	121.83
Sundered Eye of Zul	0	196.65
Tense Eye of Zul	-32.40	140.41
Timeless Eye of Zul	735.61	119.93
Turbid Eye of Zul	0	251.75
Vivid Eye of Zul	4,679.64	114.44

BLUE

Lustrous Majestic Zircon	0	163.83
Solid Majestic Zircon	80,334.80	132.06
Sparkling Majestic Zircon	0	169.74
Stormy Majestic Zircon	7,598.41	148.19

PURPLE

Balanced Dreadstone	6,918.83	122.70
Defender's Dreadstone	345.49	141.58
Glowing Dreadstone	9,581.45	139.95
Guardian's Dreadstone	4,488.81	132.52
Infused Dreadstone	0	147.59
Mysterious Dreadstone	1,564.91	149.0
Puissant Dreadstone	3,605.83	112.98
Purified Dreadstone	25,749.83	115.53
Regal Dreadstone	-61.11	121.84
Royal Dreadstone	3,940.75	121.32
Shifting Dreadstone	5,884.58	122.23
Sovereign Dreadstone	657.76	122.13
Tenuous Dreadstone	0	143.75

There are a few important things you should take away from these tables.

1 - A working knowledge of what each class and spec should gem for is invaluable. No one is going to buy Tenuous Dreadstone because, frankly, it blows. On the other hand, Glowing Dreadstone is a great seller and very popular, but an under-exploited market. Only elemental shamans gem using these, so many JCs don't bother with the pattern.

2 - If my list shows total sales to be over 1500g, it's a safe pattern to invest in. In my opinion diversity is important. Reckless Ametrine sells extremely well, for example, but what if the market is saturated? In that case it's a good idea to be able to cut Pristine and Potent Ametrines instead.

3 - Know how to interpret market value. At this point in the game, high market value means low competition because the gems are unpopular and don't sell well. Again if you check out Reckless Ametrine, the market value is rather low - this is because it sells exceptionally well and there is lots of competition.

4 - Even "crappy" gems like Eye of Zul have some great cuts. I've had a few people ask me what Zul cuts they should get, so pay special attention to that table if you're struggling to sell them. Contrary to popular belief you can turn a tidy profit on these fellas.


As always if you have any questions or notice any mistakes please comment and let me know! Please point out if links are wrong, I've been wrestling with Wowhead during its downtime and might have flubbed a few.

facepalm

I made a couple Heartseeker Scopes today hoping to get rid of some of my Twilight Opals. Calculating the mat costs, they are worth about 37g. I stupidly made 4 before checking the AH - where tards are selling them for 20g. ._. Thank goodness I didn't make a full stack of them - guess it's time to cut and vendor those damn opals though.

epic gems

After the orgasmic nature of the gem market the last two weeks, it comes as no surprise that a crash had to happen eventually. For the past 5 days there is nary a raw gem to be found on the AH, except for 160g+, while cut gems have plummeted to 120g for primary colors. :( I'm still making a profit by buying gems through trade but it blows!